DESCRIPTION

The present patent concerns manual shaving razors, and in particular it concerns a new manual razor equipped with a skin stretching mechanism.

The known manual shaving razors comprise a handle provided with a blade head at one end.

The blade head in turn comprises at least one blade or several parallel blades suited to cut the beard, wherein said head if necessary comprises other parts suited to stretch the skin before the blades are passed over it and suited to soothe the skin once the blades have been passed over it.

The known razors can be divided in two categories: disposable razors and razors with replaceable blade head.

In disposable razors, the handle and the head are made in a single, inseparable unit. When the cutting action of the blades is not effective any longer, or when it is necessary to stop using the razor because of hygienic reasons, the whole razor must be discarded.

In razors with replaceable blade head, the handle and the blade head are constituted by two separate parts that can be coupled together.

In razors with replaceable head, the blade head coupling mechanism comprises parts or mechanisms which are suited to allow the oscillation or the rotation of the blade head on an axis which is parallel to the blades and orthogonal to the axis of the handle.

In order to ensure better results, all manual razors require that the skin over which they need to be passed be stretched and smoothed.

This is necessary because if the skin is not stretched the blades of the razor are not able to shave the hair down to the level of the skin and do not cut the longer hair.

At present, the user stretches and tensions the skin on which the razor blades must be passed with the aid of the fingers of the hand that does not hold the razor.

Said skin stretching and tensioning action performed with the free hand does not always follow the shaving direction and this leads to unsatisfying shaving results. The skin may be stretched excessively or may not be stretched enough, which respectively results in skin irritation or bad shaving results.

The subject of the present patent is a new manual razor equipped with a skin stretching mechanism.

It is one object of the present invention to provide a razor with which it is possible to stretch the skin to be shaved with no need to use the free hand.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a razor with which it is possible to stretch the skin to be shaved in the shaving direction.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a razor with which it is possible to stretch the skin to be shaved by tensioning it correctly.

These and other direct and complementary objects are achieved by the new manual razor with skin stretching mechanism, comprising:

a first handle;

a first blade head, hinged to or articulated with said first handle;

a second handle, hinged to said first handle in the area included between the coupling of the blade head and the middle of said first handle;

a second head, hinged to or articulated with said second handle.

Said second handle is hinged to said first handle in such a way that:

- when the first blade head is rested on the skin to be shaved, the second handle comes to be positioned between said first handle and the skin to be shaved;

- the second head comes to be positioned so that it is adjacent to the first blade head on the side of the skin still to be shaved.

According to the invention, said second handle is substantially as long as said first handle, in such a way that the end without head of said second handle is adjacent to the end without head of the first handle and that said second head is close to said first blade head. According to the invention, said second head may be provided, on its side intended to come into contact with the skin and opposite the first handle, with elements or parts suited to limit the sliding movement of said second head without blades on the skin to be shaved. According to the invention, said second head may alternatively be provided, on its side intended to come into contact with the skin and opposite the first handle, with one or more cutting blades, in such a way as to carry out a pre-shaving operation before the passage of the blades of the first blade head.

According to the invention, an elastic element is provided which is suited to keep the free ends of the two handles away from each other, so that the first blade head and the second head come to be positioned close to each other.

According to the invention, in the rest position said second head may be in contact with said first blade head, or said second head may partially overlap said first blade head, so that even short pieces of skin can be shaved, for example the area under the nose.

The new manual razor with skin stretching mechanism can be provided with nonremovable heads, which means that it is a disposable razor, or one or both of said first blade head and second head may be removable and replaceable.

When the two handles are moved near each other in such a way as to bring the two free ends of said two handles near each other, the second head is moved away from the first blade head in the shaving direction, towards the skin that needs to be shaved.

The new razor made as described above is used with a single hand, which holds both handles.

Both heads are rested on the skin to be shaved.

Successively the two handles are moved near each other, so as to move the second head away from the first blade head.

This movement stretches the skin in the shaving direction.

Sliding the razor, and in particular the two heads, in the shaving direction stretches the skin to be shaved before the blades of the first blade head slide on it.

It is possible to repeat said operations of resting the heads on the skin, spacing them out and sliding them, once they have been spaced out, on both long and short pieces of the skin to be shaved, in such a way as to properly stretch long pieces of skin to be shaved or to shave small pieces of skin. The characteristics of the new manual razor with skin stretching mechanism will be highlighted in greater detail in the following description, in which reference is made to the attached drawings, which are enclosed hereto by way of non-limiting examples.

Figure 1 shows a side view of the new razor, while Figure 2 shows a front view of the heads (Tl, T2).

The new manual razor with skin stretching mechanism comprises a first handle (Ml) equipped with a first blade head (Tl).

Said first blade head (Tl) is applied in an articulated manner to one end (Mia) of said first handle (Tl).

In this example, the first blade head (Tl) is provided with two cutting blades (Tit), but according to the invention it can be provided with one or more than two cutting blades (Tit).

A second handle (M2) is hinged to the lower part of said first handle (Ml), on the side facing towards the skin to be shaved.

Said second handle is substantially as long as said first handle (Ml).

A second head (T2) is hinged to the end (M2a) of said second handle (M2) close to the first blade head (Tl).

In this example said second head (T2) is provided, on its side intended to come into contact with the skin and opposite the first handle (Ml), with elements or parts (T2a) suited to limit the sliding movement of said second head (T2) on the skin to be shaved. An elastic element (E), in this example an arc-shaped projection made of a flexible material, is positioned between said first handle (Ml) and said second handle (M2), in such a way as to keep the two heads (Tl, T2) near each other.

When the two heads (Tl, T2) are rested on the skin to be shaved, they are near each other. Moving the two handles (Ml, M2) near each other, only with the hand that is holding the new razor, counteracts the action of the elastic element (E) and moves the second head (T2) away from the first blade head (Tl), as shown by the dashed line in Figure 1.

This movement of the second head (T2) with respect to the first blade head (Tl) tensions and stretches the skin in front of the first blade head (Tl) before said first blade head (Tl) is passed over it.

Therefore, with reference to the above description and the attached drawings, the following claims are expressed.